Bash answer prompt

Linux and Unix-Like Emergency UNIX and Linux Support
1

I am working with a script to simplyfy some operations where I work, but one of the programs needs me to enter a password.
It will as me "Please enter the administrator password:"
Is there a way to make a bash script to automatically answer the question with the needed password?

I am looking at either have the password in clear text directly in the script, or read the script from a file only readable by a certain user.

I know, none of them are "secure" as the password prompt is there to create security, but the security is not really needed for us, right now it's more a bother to us.

I have been trying with things such as:
# program remove -Uadmin < /home/user/passwd_file
or as another suggestion was:
# yes password | program remove -Uadmin

2

Which application is asking for the password? Have you considered using expect?

1 Like
3

I'm guessing the application reads from TTY since redirecting from STDIN didn't work. As "ilikecows" said, check with "expect". If "program" is actually "sudo", then I can help you with that ... there's a NOPASSWD option you can add to certain user-command pairs so this doesnt happen. If it's ssh, you should use a public/private keypair for that user.

1 Like
4

Thank you ilikecows, expect did the job :slight_smile:
I didn't know about it until now :slight_smile:

The program asking for the password is a program made specifically for our organization, so even if I told you the name, I am quite sure you wouldn't know what it's all about. :slight_smile: